


In The End

by Pyxie_Dust



Series: The Million Lives of Jaime and Melissa [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, OC Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Becoming Gods kind of I'm not sure, F/F, Finally sticking together, Narrator is kind of in the story kind of not, Post Death Fic, Starting from the Beginning after the Ending, yeah its weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-18 11:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyxie_Dust/pseuds/Pyxie_Dust
Summary: My Idiots have died and are trying to make their way back to each other, again
Relationships: Jaime/Melissa, Jalissa
Series: The Million Lives of Jaime and Melissa [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533401





	1. Chapter 1

There is a legend that is told in the place that lies beyond time, beyond space, and beyond infinity. 

Two entities linger in the space between spaces. In the lands that dwell within and throughout the gaps between Heaven and Hell. In the breaths where Souls linger, only to be lost lest they are guided… or destroyed.

One is orderly. Just. A creature that spent it’s life trying to atone for the wrongs it was forced to commit. When it’s time finally came, it fell between the worlds, between the aftermath, and lingered. Believing it had no true home in the places lay beyond, it wandered through the gaps, between the spaces, searching for something it could not name. As time, though it did not exist, moved onwards, it began to lose itself. The emptiness wore away at it, slowly eroding the things that made it who it was. Starting with its name, and ending with it’s form. Now it is a Shadow, an echo of a person long forgotten.

The second is chaotic. Feral. A being that spent it’s life running from the monsters that created it. When it’s time finally came, it too fell between the worlds, between the aftermath, and lingered. It had a home, family, but it feared for them and so drove itself away in hopes of protecting them from the monster whose face it now bore. The emptiness wore away at it, slowly eroding the things that made it who it was. Starting with its name, and ending with its mind. Now it is a Wolverine, a beast from the heart of one long existing.

It is said that in life, these two entities clashed before. Fixating on one another, as two sides of the same coin, and forced to do battle by forces not of their own will. Yet despite the carnage, the pain, they bound themselves to one another in order to claim their own sanctuary. Such a bind is baffling to those that would look on, and dangerous to those who might control them. Time and again it was tested, broken, and then reforged even stronger. 

For nothing, in Life or in the Aftermath, can destroy what is forged from Love.

Once again, the tale has begun. Once again the trials have been set, or so the legend goes. The two are fated to clash, time and again, until the emptiness returns what it has taken. 


	2. Chapter 2

Not too much is known about these entities, their origins beyond the aftermath is all but myth and speculation. How they came into being here, that is the more widely known tale.

The story goes that the first to fall was the Shadow.

It’s Life, while longer than most, left in much the way that all go. Time won out, and age took it gently to sleep, carrying it down beneath the crust of reality. Towards its own small space of blinding white, where the quiet reigned true, and solitude clung like cobwebs to the wall. When it woke, if it woke at all, it was alone. Lying upon a ground made only of its will, in an endless expanse that it once used to fear. Now though. Now that it was truly here to rest, it felt only peace. 

They say that a promise was made in Life, between the two entities that exist between the gaps. That one would find the other in the end. That they would search, coming together again, to live (in a sense) together in oblivion, and finally find peace in their small piece of oblivion. So when it woke, and the Shadow rose from the ground, it ignored its instinct to wait. For in life it had been forced to wait. Often being placed in the back corner of a shelf, sitting patiently for the moment that it would be needed again. 

No more though.

No more would it sit and wait in the dark, and the cold, and silent. Instead, it chose to rise in the light and place one foot in front of the other. Searching for something beyond the brightness.

The elders of these realms say the Shadow wandered for Eons. Aiming to reach the edge of the endless vastness of the gaps, edges that don’t exist. Some say they were constantly running. Others say they ventured at a trot. Most though, most say they walked at the pace they thought best for the moment. 

In that time it was said that it discovered the thing that ruled over the gaps. 

Will. 

Through sheer concentration it could bring anything into being. Food, tools, weaponry, clothing; it could even go so far as to change its shape if they wished. It grew itself to heights of buildings. They lengthened themself to the concept of infinity. It changed it’s skin to every color on the visible spectrum, and even to some that aren’t. It changed every part of itself just to see if they could. They become everyone they knew, and many other they didn’t. The only thing that they never changed, was the sound of their voice.

It is said in Life, it’s voice was faint, quiet, seldom used unless it spoke to those closest to them. Those that had created it did not have use for a being that talked back, so they made sure it never talked at all. Imbuing it with the fear that if it ever spoke out of turn, if it ever uttered a response that was not correct, that it would be silenced in the most painful manner. From there, it was easy to have control over it. It was easy to make it move and act as their will bid them. For a person with no voice, no opinion, is not a human, only a puppet. 

Now though, as it wandered the gaps between the realms, it had a voice. It had thoughts. It had an opinion all it’s own. Much like in the ending years of its life, it spoke. It sang. It laughed. Relishing in the sound that bounced back against the walls of its own machinations. 

They say someone did hear it once. Someone else lost within the gaps. They followed it to the source, and found the Shadow there, sitting on the ground surrounded by it’s bright little space. The two spoke, the Stranger asking the Shadow if it knew where they were, but the Shadow merely shook its head. The Stranger asked if the Shadow had seen anyone else. Again it said no. Then the Stranger began to cry. 

Many have seen the shadow since that time, many have encountered it as they peered beyond the edges of their own ends. It has always only been glimpses. A hand, a voice, a warm embrace. All anyone can remember now of it, are these tiny things before there is a brisk rush of wind, and they find rest. 

But the Stranger had seen all of it. The eyes that shone like starlight; the smile that seemed tired, but warm; the hands that were calloused and rough, but soft enough to feel caring. 

It is said that the Shadow asked if the Stranger wanted to go looking for others. For the people they might care about. The stranger had agreed, and the two ventured out into the emptiness together. 

It is said they spoke about everything and nothing

It is said that the two grew close.

It is said that the Stranger started to fall in a way that we only do when we’re alive.

And it is said that the Shadow could not fall in the same way.

No one knows exactly what happened next. Some say that the two fought and somehow the Stranger made their own way to their end. Some say that the two decided to go their separate ways so that they would not harm one another before reaching their respective ends. Few say the truth, for tales are much better than truths oftentimes, and the truth is that the Stranger understood. Allowing the two to carry on before they arrived at the Stranger’s End. 

The story goes from there that the Stranger asked for the Shadow to join them. Reach the rest they seemed to be searching for there, but the Shadow declined. It told the Stranger that this Ending didn’t feel quite right. That there was something missing from it that they needed to find before going off. 

And so, the two bid farewell, and the Shadow’s story began.


	3. Chapter 3

For every light, there must be darkness. For every hope, there must be a despair. For every calm, there is a storm. 

They say the Wolverine fell next. 

Its life had not been kind, it had been long, and droll, and seemingly unending. So much of the light within it had been snuffed out due to time, to age, to those that had bred the power it wielded. When it woke, if it woke at all, it found itself within the dim and dark land that had once held the monster within its mind. A land rife with anger and fear, the one place where it was vulnerable and weak. Now though. Now that it was truly here to rest, it found it was alone. 

They say that a promise was made in Life, between the two entities that exist between the gaps. That one would find the other in the end. That they would search, coming together again, to live (in a sense) together in oblivion, and finally find peace in their small piece of oblivion. So when it woke, and the Wolverine rose from the ground, and made its way through black, hopeful and glad. For in life, these things were limited. The tiniest flickerings of which would be snuffed out once it was within the Wolverine’s grasp. 

No more though.

No more would it believe that everything it loved would be ripped away. Instead, it chose to rise in the dark, placing one foot in front of the other. Searching for something beyond the black.

The elders say that the Wolverine wandered for eons. Searching not for an edge, or the unveiling of a new Ending, but for the other half that they were missing. Always running, rushing, heading for somewhere it knew not. Some say that it never lingered in one space for too long. Others say that it lingered in spaces for ages. Most though, say it never looked back to where it had once been.

They say that here is where the path differed for the Wolverine. 

Here, it learned that change did not come easy, and that the black was a stagnant place. 

It took the oldest, basest, angriest emotions and instincts within the Wolverine and amplified them. Surrounding it in it’s worst aspects, forcing it to take on physical attributes that would represent everything that it hated about itself. 

Giving the rest a picture of what to fear.

It’s skin turned mottled and gray. It’s hair thinned, knotted together into a massive tangle. It’s eyes began to burn a bright toxic yellow. Hands gnarled into claws, while the actual claws that lay between it’s knuckles extended permanently outwards, rusting over from the blood it had shed. The voice it once hand was lost to the silence, and raspy screech took over. Forcing it to become the monster that had once dwelled within its own mind. The menace that plagued it’s waking nightmares. The demon that had always lingered in it’s own Shadow. 

Another Stranger, one far different from the first, found their path crossed with the Wolverine. This stranger was not searching, was not looking, but was still lost in the gaps that lay between. They spied the Wolverine a great distance away, and in their foolishness, called out to it to see if it knew where they were and what was happening. When it didn’t respond they chose to go closer, threatening that if it didn’t answer them they would get their answer a harsher way. 

Many have seen the Wolverine since then. From a distance, within the safety of their Ends as it prowled the gaps for the one who is unlucky enough to fall into its grips. Its image is burned into our minds because of this, and the description shared to every and all, so that if any were to ever venture out we never face what the Second Stranger did.

The Elders say it was quick. 

A growl.

A smile.

And a cut.

Then the Second Stranger was no more.

No one knows exactly what happened to the Second Stranger after that. Some think that the Dark consumed him. Others believe the Wolverine did. Few say the truth, for often times tales are better than truths, and the truth is that the Second Stranger was sentenced. Condemned, more accurately, to a place beyond the Ends. To finality. To Justice. To reap what horrors they had sowed. 

The story goes from there that the Wolverine continued on. Traversing the Gaps, crossing vast distances, hunting for the next Stranger to lash out against. It stumbled across the same Ends that the Shadow did, but at different times so they did not encounter one another. It never entered though. Instead it would make a face, something akin refusal mixed with denial. 

And so the Wolverine continued onwards, alone, it’s true story finally begun.


	4. Chapter 4

Their first clash, or so we’re told, occurred long after each had taken up their roles. Being made known to all those who they came across, and all those who escaped, but never being made known to one another.

It’s said that when the day came of their first meeting. The dark of the Wolverine and the light of the Shadow intermingled into a sort of soft twilight. The Shadow, having existed with all it’s actions done in the light, having every motive and inclination exposed, reveled in the soft darkness that now coated them. The Wolverine, having existed with all it’s actions done in the dark, having every judgement and execution hidden, stood wary in the faint light that now coated them.

The two, explored this twilight, walking amongst and throughout the still empty land, until they encountered one another. 

At this time the Shadow still had no definitive form. It believed the Wolverine to be yet another Soul that had been lost between the Gaps and tried to appeal to it. Gazing into the Wolverine’s eyes, it tried to take the form of someone that it might know, someone it might find comforting. Yet when it looked, it saw… so much. There were so many people in it’s mind. So many loves. So many bits of family. So many hands, reaching out to pull it close, and yet it would not let them. The one thing that it did manage to land on, despite the fact that every other part of it continued to change. It’s eyes turned grey.

The Wolverine however, was stagnant as ever. Upon sighting the ever changing Shadow, it believed it to be yet another Soul that had fallen between the Gaps. It met the gaze of the Shadow and felt something deep within it’s chest tremble. An emotion it could not name, and therefore feared. It was so much, at an intensity so strong, that if it were tangible the Wolverine was sure it would burn. That feeling was blanketed by others, just as tangible as the first, snowflakes that made up the blizzard. So much emotion, flowing out, begging to be understood, and yet it managed to withhold it all behind a mask of indifference. There was one thing that it did manage to name, despite the fact that the Shadow was in such tumult. It was searching for something.

The clash lasted an eternity and a day. Equally matched in both advantages and flaws, the two collided and created and destroyed for all of the End to see. 

Here there is no pain, lest you are condemned, here there is no exhaustion, until you rest. So for two nearly godlike beings to clash in this manner, meant that the fight could go on for much much longer. The sound of the battle, echoed outwards into the aether, the ringing of claws against blades rang out like church bells. The ‘ground’ beneath their feet shook as if the mountains were rising up from the earth in the great tumult that came with the creation of a planet’s land. If a blow did manage to land it did not cause hesitation, for they felt nothing. Each slice of the Wolverine’s claws against the skin of the Shadow caused a dark black light to emerge into the grey mists. Each hack of the Shadow’s scythe caused a bright white light to emerge to combat the dark. No blood, no flesh, no pain, just eternity.

Because of this, something strange happened. Energy, entropy,  _ something _ began to build during the fight. Forming a bubble, a mass, that surrounded them, encompassing them, until it reaches a point where it nearly blinds anyone looking directly at the fight. But there is no pain, no harm, that comes to those here in the Ends of our lives. So one can continue to look on in awe of the power of the gods. 

It bursts, and the shockwave sends both back to the very edges of infinity. Stretching the emptiness even further past the concepts that we are familiar with, laying the two entities low for another eternity. 

Confusion ran rampant, questions murmured through the cracks and crevices. Echoing out so loudly into the silence of the aether of sections between the Ends of our lives.

“Why did one not succeed?”

“Why did they balance each other out?”

“Were they holding back?”

“What was it they saw in each other?”

“Did they bleed?”

“What was it that threw them.”

There was no true answer to satisfy them.


	5. Chapter 5

Encounters like that occurred once every other millenia, the two managing to last a little longer in the peace before the fight every time after. They learn different things, find different depths, try exploring the mists whilst staying a distance away from one another. 

On occasion they do run into one lost soul or another whilst wading through the mists. Others that live between the between, none of them able to fall definitively to either entities side. They are good company though. These souls often cling to one side or the other, talking, staying silent, singing, mourning. It allows for the both to get back in touch with the humanity they lost when it first fell between. 

The Wolverine witnesses the softer side of the Shadow as it speaks with that same soft voice it always has. Talking about everything and nothing, occasionally singing along with the soul, and (though it is rare) laughing.

The Shadow witnesses the softer side of the Wolverine as it interacts in ways that are contradictory to its nature. Giving physical warmth, guiding them by taking hold of their hand, being a pillar of strength (literally) if it’s needed. 

These instances, though often brief, hold the deepest meaning for these two. It helps them remember who they were when alive, who they had been when they first came. Memories are fleeting here, fickle and fie as snowflakes in the wind. They keep us whole, keep us sane, keep us happy, but when we lose them: we lose more than we thought.

In the End they are all we are made of, every aspect of us, every inch of skin, strand of clothing, note of sound, are made from the memories we carry with us. It shapes how we act, how we look, how we think; they made the Shadow and the Wolverine who they were when they first arrived. The loss of them turned them into the entities we currently know them as today… and the moment they regained them?

We’re told many things. 

That the two constantly combative entities disappeared into the between, shattering like a million fragments heading towards their final rest. That the two beings eventually found their differing endings, and retired there, for the rest of eternity. That the two people…  _ people _ … regained themselves, remembered who the other was… and smiled.

The last person to ever bare witness to the two before they disappeared from our minds forever, was said to have known them in life. A woman, who shared the features of her parents along with their abilities. She called their names, bringing them close enough so that she could grasp each of their hands in her own. Then placing each one in the other’s. 

She says that in that moment, the two of them shed their outer appearance when she did that. The cloak and scythe of the Shadow swirled into a pool of nothingness at their feet. Revealing a person with history written upon their skin, eyes like storm clouds, and a smile that brought the welcome rain. The rotted flesh and rust-stained claws of the Wolverine washed away into dust and void upon the ground. Revealing a woman with a wild mane of hair, eyes bearing the richness of the soil, and a grin that hinted at mischief. 

The three embraced for but a moment, tears shed, and stories spilled. Then the Shadow and the Wolverine, Melissa and Jaime, take hold of one another and bid the woman goodbye. Jaime, scooping up their wife into their arms to kiss their life and their love in a way they had not for so long. Melissa, laughing big and brightly as she is lifted into the air by her husband and her heart. 

The two walking off into the grey mists of a new land appearing before them, excitement and hope filling them to the brim.

One last shout of farewell, before they finally reach… the end.


End file.
